For the last five years, we have had the honour of being invited to, and attending, the annual Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia’s glorious coastal capital – and it delights every year. Known locally as PÖFF, the festival has been running since 1997 and welcomes hundreds of film journalists and professionals from all over the world.
Our focus this time last year was around the opening weekend of the event – PÖFF spans nearly three weeks – taking in the opening ceremony and the events front-loaded to the festival (along with a little local football). In 2024, we arrive slightly later, the programmes in full swing but still with three full days to explore what’s on offer.
We kicked off with The Shadow (locally titled Vari), an Estonian production led by former Berlinale Shooting Star and Tallinn resident Pääru Oja. Oja plays poet Juhan Liiv, who returns to his home town after breaking free of a mental institution in Estonia’s second-largest city, Tartu.
It is 19th century rural Estonia, the film pitched in the press notes as a thriller but plays more like a gothic murder mystery with locals in the small town being picked off one by one after the discovery of a large pot of silver. Estonian filmmaker Jaak Kilmi keeps the viewer guessing to the end, offering tense set pieces and some quite gruesome killings (via hanging, shootings and head-bashings) throughout, but it is Oja who delights as the protagonist charged with finding out who is bumping everyone off. It’s beautifully shot by cinematographer Mihkel Soe and has an amazing musical score by Ardo Ran Varres. Running at a taut 92 minutes and extremely tightly paced, this one is well worth seeking out.
Another pick is Egle Vertelyte’s Lithunianian film Tasty, a culinary delight playing in the Baltic Film Competition revolving around single mother Ona and her friend Saule, who enter a cooking contest called ‘Let’s Cook Lithuanian’ – a bit like Masterchef but with more emotional manipulation. Heavily satirical and featuring great performances from Agnieszka Rawdo and Elena Ozari, Tasty serves up an absolute treat and is tons of fun from start to finish.
We cross to the Best of Festivals next, and director Michael Hazanavicius with a new offering which takes us in a completely different direction to that of his last film, the Cannes 2022 opening film, Final Cut. This is his foray into feature animation, a dark tale set during the Holocaust but, rather than focussing attention on the camps or the evil people carrying out atrocities, we see things set in rural Poland and a woodcutter and his wife who lead a bleak, poor life with the ongoing war engulfing all around them. One day, a baby is thrown from one of the trains heading towards Auschwitz, a newborn, one of the youngest victims of the regime.
“One of the best films of the year – expect awards mentions.”
The woodcutter’s wife takes it upon herself to take the baby in after finding her in the deep snow one night, much to the anger of her husband. Over time, his feelings soften for the young child who completely changes the course of theirs and her lives. Completely absorbing and often harrowing, Hazanavicius steers us through the horrors of the war from a different angle. Despite brutal scenes towards the final reel, it does though, offer up an ending that is surprisingly uplifting. One of the best films of the year – expect awards mentions.
As with every year in Tallinn, we venture away from the festival to sample the local delights. Each year, the festival organisers put on extra curricular activities for those attending, the most popular being the daily morning swim where visitors, most of them residing at the beautiful Nordic Hotel Forum, are taken by the locals to the nearby Baltic Sea for a 9am dip. I’ve been to this festival five times, and I am still yet to brave it, but this is a daily ‘thing’, so… maybe one year.
There are always opportunities to sample the stunning Old Town, which is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List as a valuable treasure. Just moments from the festival hug, organised tours are put on by the festival’s wonderful volunteers, but with it being easily accessible from where we stay, an individual walk after a movie gives us the opportunity to take in the sights and clear one’s head.
“This year, we set a personal record for most karaoke bars visited and ‘performed in’ on one night.”
Containing many gift shops, taverns, and cafes, including Maiasmokk, one of the oldest in all of Tallinn dating all of the way back to 1864, the Old Town has a surprise around every corner. Whether you’re in the mood for some tasty Glögi, a local alcoholic or non-alcoholic winter treat, a local souvenir (Amber seems to be the gem of choice here) or a sing-song in one of the many karaoke bars, this is your place. This year, we set a personal record for most karaoke bars visited and ‘performed in’ on one night. The total was three; the large Helsinki Karaoke and Satumaa (complete with George Michael shrine) on the Main Street and a third which has a name that has left us (after all, it was 430am when we finally departed).
Related: Tallinn Black Nights Festival soars with 27th edition
If destroying classic tunes isn’t your thing, then there’s also the stunning town square which sadly, last year, was devoid of any festive cheer (we came two weeks earlier), but this year was lit up by the about-to-open, and world renowned Christmas market, the incoming weekend’s grand opening perfectly timed with the end of the festival.
A highlight this year was a trip out of the old town – following a night of heavily karaoke action – was another festival-organised trip to a very snowy Estonian Open Air Museum: Eesti Vabaõhumuuseum which is located around a twenty minute drive out of the city centre. The museum is located near the sea but is actually deep in a forest surrounding where visitors can walk in and around an authentic rural Estonian village.
The day we visited was after a night of very heavy snow – adding an even more magical, festive element to the trip. We were taken around old farmhouses, school buildings, a working shop where you can buy anything from metal hooks, to bars of chocolate, and then on to a 1960s style four-apartment building.
Each apartment in the block consisted of four or five rooms; a lounge, two bedrooms, a kitchen and bathroom, but each one was decorated, to minute detail, to a specific decade; the 1960s, 1970s, 1990s, and modern-day. It was truly like walking onto a living film set in each one, all of us transported back to a time left behind, and was a definite highlight of the entire museum.
If food’s your thing, and it certainly was ours after an hour’s guided tour in near freezing conditions, there is also a warm, inviting tavern, where we were served a delicious, three-course Estonian lunch. Starting with soup, before moving on to a main with meat, potatoes and vegetables, the meal was devoured by all, though the final course of a local moose with jam was decidedly more divided. Personally, I devoured the lot.
After a group shot of us all (see below), it was back to the coach and to the centre of Tallinn and PÖFF.
I took in a film in the Best of Festivals strand from master filmmaker, and writer of the likes of Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, Paul Schrader. Oh, Canada was first screened at this year’s Cannes Film Festival back in May and is a film which reunites Schrader with his American Gigolo star, Richard Gere. It has been 44 years between the two projects, and Oh, Canada revolves around a man at the end of his life.
Gere is Leonard Fife, a seventy-something documentary filmmaker who has a terminal illness. Days, if not hours before death, Fife has agreed to be interviewed by a film crew to go over events from his long life. He spills over the course of one day, including a final testament on why he defaulted to Canada at the time of the Vietnam War, and why he left a forgotten wife and son behind. Uma Thurman, Michael Imperioli, Victoria Hill, Kristine Froseth, and Saltburn and Priscilla breakout Jacob Elordi, also appear, the latter as a young Fife. It’s one which will divide audiences, but well worth seeking out if you’re a fan of Schrader and anyone else involved.
In all, this year’s festival screened 249 feature films and 323 short films from 81 countries. There are six competition programmes, along with PÖFF’s youth and children’s film sub-festival Just Film.
Winning the main award (the Grand Prix) this year, on the final Saturday, was Sengedorj Janchivdorj’s Silent City Driver, and also landed the Production Design award for Munkhbat Shirnen. The stylishly visual feature is set at night on the urban streets of Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar, focussing upon recently released prisoner turned hearse driver who prefers to care for stray dogs than interact with humans.
Nir Bergman picked up Best Director for Pink Lady. Of the film, the jury said: “The award for best director goes to a film that shows expert craftsmanship at all levels. When the vast complex machine of a film works in perfect sync, when every performance is subtle and moving, every emotional step feels honest and heartbreaking…” Pink Lady offers up a story about suppressed feelings within an Orthodox Jewish community in Jerusalem. “The film is a masterclass in precise and effortless direction,” the jury added.
Other winners included No Dogs Allowed (Best First Feature); Southern Chronicles (Best Baltic Film); Protected Men (Rebels with a Cause, Best Film), The Brothers Kitaura (Critics’ Picks programme, Best Film); The Watchman (Doc@PÖFF competition), while Pyre scooped the Audience Award.
This wonderful festival never ceases to amaze. Such a different experience every year that we visit, but one which always unites multiple similarly-minded people from all over Europe and the world. It offers introductions to new voices, as well as a great way to catch up on festivals from earlier in the year that you night have missed. Put simply, PÖFF is a festival, and Tallinn is a place which leaves you with a glowing feeling as you leave, though always disappointed to say farewell for another year.
We’re only ever there for a few days, but what a wonderful a few days is in Tallinn. Always.
